The invention disclosed herein pertains to a tamper-proof switch and latch device.
There are many cases where access by persons to electrical, mechanical and hot equipment, for example, must be prevented until safe conditions prevail. Typically, such equipment is installed within an enclosure in which there is a door that should not be openable unless the equipment is deenergized, stopped or cooled.
Residential automatic clothes washing machines, which are familiar to most persons, provide one example of a situation where some degree of protection is provided against the user being injured by becoming entangled with the spin dryer which is still spinning after the access door is opened. The protective device used in existing machines is usually a door operated switch that is operated to an open circuit state by opening the door. The open switch deenergizes the motor that drives the spinning basket rotationally at high speed. Although some clothes washing machines apply a braking means concurrently with deenergization of the motor, it is common for the basket to still be coasting at a fairly high speed after the access door is opened. Thus, there is some risk of a user being injured until the basket comes to a complete stop.